Oil well drilling apparatus

ABSTRACT

Parallel reclining front and back links have their front ends pivotally connected to a base and their rear ends pivotally connected to an elevatable floor support member on which a gin pole is mounted. Pivotally connected to the base in front of the links is a reclining setback support member extending forward therefrom. The foot end of a reclining mast member is pivotally connected to the front end of one of these support members. Means are provided for swinging one of the pivotally connected members upwardly and rearwardly to upright position and for then swinging another of said members up to raised position so that the mast member will be upright on the raised floor support member behind the upright setback support member.

Jenkins et al.

451 Apr. 30, 1974 OIL WELL DRILLING APPARATUS [75] Inventors: Cecil Jenkins; Robert B. Donnally,

both of Tulsa, Okla.

[73] Assignee: Lee C. Moore Corporation, Tulsa,

Okla.

22 Filed: 061. 19, 1972 121 Appl. No.: 299,011

[52] US. Cl. 52/120, 175/173 [51] Int. Cl...... B66c 23/60, E2lc 9/00, E210 11/00 [58] Field'of Search 52/116, 117-120,

994,663 6/1965 -Great Britain 52/ 120 Primary Examiner--Henry C. Sutherland Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Brown, Murray, Flick & Peckham 57 ABSTRACT Parallel reclining front and back links have their front ends pivotally connected to a base and their rear ends pivotally connected to an elevatable floor support member on which a gin pole is mounted. Pivotally connected to the base in front of the links is a reclining setback support member extending forward there- [56] References Cited from. The foot end of a reclining mast member is piv- UNITED STATES PATENTS otally connected to the front end of one of these sup- 3,747,695 7/1973 Branham 1 52/116 port W Means are prov'ded for Swmgmg one 3,749,183 7/1973 Branham et al. 52 116 of the pwotany nnected members upward]? and 3,754,361 8/1973 Branham et a1. 52/116 'earwardly P P and Swmging 3,228,151 1/1966 Woolslayer et al 52 116 another of Said members P to raised Position 80 that 3,201,091 8/1965 Woolslayer et al. 52 120 he mas memb r will e prigh n h r i e floor 3,483,933 12/1969 Dyer 'et' al. 1 52/116 support member behind the upright setback support 3,050,159 8/1962 Paulus et al. 52/117 memb r,

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 5 Cl 8 D F 690,526 4/1953 Great Britain 52/120 sums rawmg The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a side view of all the lowered position;

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the setback support raised;

components in their FIG. 3 is a side view showing the drawworks and gin pole raised and the upright mast in dotted lines;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are enlarged end views taken on the. lines IVIV and V-V, respectively; and

FIGS. 6, 7' and 8 are views corresponding, respectively, to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, of a modification.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 4-and 5 of the drawings, a long skid base 1 has a raised central portion that provides an open area 2 or porthole beneath it in order to permit the base to be skidded-sideways away from a well head after a well has been completed. Seated on the back portion of the base is a support member 3'for a floor 4 and drawworks 5 and a gin pole 6. This floor support member, as it shall be referred to herein, is connected with the base by means of parallel front and rear pairs of reclining links 7 and 8' extending lengthwiseof the base. The front endsof the links are connected to the base at longitudinally spaced points 9, while the'rear ends of the links are pivotally connected to the floor support member at longitudinally spaced points 10. Being at a low elevation, the floor support 3 is easily deposited on the base and readily connected to it by means of the reclining links.

Pivotally connected to the base in front of its raised central portion is the foot end of a reclining setback support member 11 which extends forward alongthe ground in front of the base. The top of the front end of this reclining setback support is providedwith'brackets 12 that pivotally support the foot end of areclining mast member 13 likewise extending forward away from the base. The mast is moved into position by a suitable truck 14 and trailer (not shown), so the'connection to the setback support is easy to make. The-mast contains the usual traveling block 15, which can be supported from a dolly running on a trackalong the upper side of the reclining mast in a well-known manner. Thetraveling block is connected by lines 16 with a crown block 17 at the head of the mast, from which the-fast line extends in the usual manner back over the mast and down around a sheave, supported by the top of the gin pole,

to the drawworks drum. A sling line l8is looped over the hook l9'of the traveling block and the opposite ends of the line are connected to anchor brackets 20 at the top of the gin pole.

In order to raise these various low-level members 3,.

l1 and 13 to their elevated or operating position, the drawworks is operated to pull the traveling block toward the crown block on the mast. As shown in FIG.

2. back side can be pinned to brackets 2310n the raised portion of the base to hold'the setback support firmly in place. Of course, this a'ctionalso lifts the foot of the mast to a muchhigher elevation than it was in the beginning. v

The sling line'then is disconnected'from the gin pole and passed over a-roller 24 atthe back of the top of the setbacksupport and down to anchor points 25 on the floor support 3. Operation of the drawworks causes the traveling block to bemoved closer to the crown block and to pull the sling'along with it. The sling therefore swings the floor support upwardly and forwardly on its pivoted links until the front end of the floor support is close to the back of the top of the setback support, as shown in FIG. 3. The two supports then can be connected together in anyv suitable manner, such as by pinningbrackets 26 and27together. Forward movement of the floor support can also belimited by telescoping braces 28 pivotally connected-attheir ends to-the base near the front links 7 and to the floorsupport near the back links 8.

The slingthen is disconnected from the floor support and passeduparound a pair of sheaves 31 supported by thetop of the gin pole and then forward to anchor brackets 32 on the upper side of the reclining mast. In order to do thisthe traveling block first has to be returned to a position near the setback support. Now, when the drawworks is operated to pull the traveling blocktowards'the crown blockagain, the sling swings the mast upwardly and rearwardly in a well-known manner until it comes to rest against the gin pole, to which it then is pinned, as shown in dottedlines in FIG. 3.

It will be seen thatwith apparatus constructed as shown and described herein the drawworks and the rotary table 33 can be set 'onthe floor support 3 while it is resting on the base 1, and the foot of the mast can be 7 pivoted to the reclining setbacksupport 11 in a position 2, this pulls the mast backward toward the gin pole and causes it to swing the setback support 11 upwardly and back to an upright position, in which brackets 22 on its not far from the ground. Thereafter, simply by connectingthe sling line'to different locations and then operating the drawworks each time, the different members are raised in succession to their elevated or upright opcrating-positions. Of course, to lower these members again the'procedure describedis simply reversed. Althoughreference has been'm'ade to sling 18 as performing three successive operations, itwill be understood that if desired or necessary for any reason a similar slingor slings can be substituted for sling 18in FIGS. 2 and 3 and the claims are to be'read accordingly.

In the modification shown in FIGS. 6, 7 and 8'the principle and theadvantages are the same as just described but the erectionsequence isdifferent. In this further embodiment of the inventionthe mast is raised first, followed by the setback support. Also, the base'is not provided with araised central portion like the one first described, although it could be. Referring to FIG. 6, the floor supportmember 36, with the rotary table 37 and drawworks 38 and gin pole 39 mounted on it, rests on the rear end portion of a base 40. As in the first embodiment of the invention, the foot end of a setback support member 42 is pivotally connected to the front end portion'of the base and extends forward along the ground in front of it. On the other hand, the foot end of the reclining mast 43 is not connected to the setback support. but is pivotally connected to brackets 44 rigidly mounted on the front end of the floor support. The

mast-contains a traveling block 45 connected by lines 46 to a crown block 47, -with the fast line extending rearwardly over a sheave at the top of the gin pole and down to the draw-works. A sling line 48 is looped over the hook of the traveling block and extends back beneath sheaves 49 in the mast and then up and around a'pair of sheaves 50 supported by the top of the gin pole and then forward to anchor brackets 51 on the upper side of the reclining mast.

When the drawworks is operated to pull the traveling block toward the crown block, the sling swings the mast upwardly in the usual way and back against the gin pole, to which it is then fastened. The traveling block then is lowered and the sling line is disconnected from the gin pole and passed down and under sheaves 53 mounted on the floor support. From these sheaves the sling extends forward to brackets 54 on the upper surface of the reclining setback support near its front end. When the drawworks is again operated to raise the traveling block, the sling swingsthe setback support upwardly and back to upright position, where brackets 55 attached to it can be pinned to brackets 56 on the base as shown in FIG. 7. Further upward movement of the traveling block in the mast causes the sling to lift the floor support 36 by means ofsheaves 53 and swing it forward on its supporting pivoted parallel'links 57 until the floor is abouton a level with the top of the erect setback support as shown in FIG. 8. The floor supportand setback support can then be connected together by fasteners extending through brackets 44. It will be seen that in this case the mast is upright while the floor support is being raised.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we

have explained the principle of our invention and have illustrated and described what we now consider to rep resent its best embodiment. However, we desire to have it understoodthat, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

1. Oil well drilling apparatus comprising a base having front and rear ends, parallel reclining front and back links extending lengthwise of the base, means pivotally connecting the front ends of the links to longitudinally spaced points on the base, an elevatable floor support member, means pivotally connecting the rear ends of the links to longitudinally spaced points on said member, a gin'pole mounted on said member, a reclining setback support member having a foot end pivotally connected to said base in front of said links, said setback support member extending forward away from said floor support member, a reclining forwardly extending mast member having a foot end pivotally connected to the front end of one of said support members, means for swinging one of said pivotally connected members upwardly and rearwardly on its foot end to upright position, means for swinging another of said members up to raised position, and means for then swinging the remaining member up to raised position, whereby the mast member will be upright on the raised floor support member behind the upright setback support member.

2. Oil well drilling apparatus according to claim 1, in which it is the front end of the setback support member to which the foot end'of the mast member is pivotally connected, and in which said means for swinging include drawworks mounted on said floor support member, a traveling block in the mast member, a line supported by the mast member and connected to the drawworks for pulling the block toward the head of the mast member, a sling connected at one end with the traveling block, and means for first connecting the opposite end of the sling with the gin pole to raise the reclining setback support member and the foot of the reclining mast member together and for then connecting the sling with the floor support member to swing it upwardly and forward toward the raised setback support member and for then connecting the sling'with the gin pole again to swing the reclining mast member upwardly and back against the gin pole to upright position.

3. Oil well drilling apparatus according to claim 2, in which said last-mentioned means include means for first anchoring said opposite end of the'sling to the top of the gin pole, means for later anchoring said opposite end of the sling to the floor support member,'sheave means mounted onthe top of the gin pole, and means for anchoring said opposite end of the sling to the upper side of the reclining mast member with the sling extending therefrom down around the back of said sheave means and forward to the traveling block.

4. Oil well drilling apparatus according to claim 1, in which it is the front end of the floor support member to which the foot end of the mast member is pivotally connected, and in which said means for swinging include drawworks mounted on said floor support member, a traveling block in the mast member, a line supported by the mast member and connected to the drawworks for pulling the block toward the headpf the mast member, a sling connected at one end with the traveling block, and means for first connecting the opposite end of the sling with the ginpole to swing the mast member up to upright position and for then connecting the sling with both the floor support member and setback support member to first raise the setback support member and then swing the floor support member and upright mast member upwardly and forward toward the raised setback support member.

5. Oil well drilling apparatus according to claim 4, in which said last-mentioned means include sheave means mounted on the top of the gin pole, means for first anchoring said opposite end of the sling'to the upper side of the reclining mast member with the sling extending therefrom down around the back of said sheave means and forward to the traveling block, sheave means mounted on said floor support member, and means for later anchoring said opposite end of the sling to the upper part of the raised setback support member with the sling extending therefrom down under said lastmentioned sheave means and up to the traveling block. k 

1. Oil well drilling apparatus comprising a base having front and rear ends, parallel reclining front and back links extending lengthwise of the base, means pivotally connecting the front ends of the links to longitudinally spaced points on the base, an elevatable floor support member, means pivotally connecting the rear ends of the links to longitudinally spaced points on said member, a gin pole mounted on said member, a reclining setback support member having a foot end pivotally connected to said base in front of said links, said setback support member extending forward away from said floor support member, a reclining forwardly extending mast member having a foot end pivotally connected to the front end of one of said support members, means for swinging one of said pivotally connected members upwardly and rearwardly on its foot end to upright position, means for swinging another of said members up to raised position, and means for then swinging the remaining member up to raised position, whereby the mast member will be upright on the raised floor support member behind the upright setback support member.
 2. Oil well drilling apparatus according to claim 1, in which it is the front end of the setback support member to which the foot end of the mast member is pivotally connected, and in which said means for swinging include drawworks mounted on said floor support member, a traveling block in the mast member, a line supported by the mast member and connected to the drawworks for pulling the block toward the head of the mast member, a sling coNnected at one end with the traveling block, and means for first connecting the opposite end of the sling with the gin pole to raise the reclining setback support member and the foot of the reclining mast member together and for then connecting the sling with the floor support member to swing it upwardly and forward toward the raised setback support member and for then connecting the sling with the gin pole again to swing the reclining mast member upwardly and back against the gin pole to upright position.
 3. Oil well drilling apparatus according to claim 2, in which said last-mentioned means include means for first anchoring said opposite end of the sling to the top of the gin pole, means for later anchoring said opposite end of the sling to the floor support member, sheave means mounted on the top of the gin pole, and means for anchoring said opposite end of the sling to the upper side of the reclining mast member with the sling extending therefrom down around the back of said sheave means and forward to the traveling block.
 4. Oil well drilling apparatus according to claim 1, in which it is the front end of the floor support member to which the foot end of the mast member is pivotally connected, and in which said means for swinging include drawworks mounted on said floor support member, a traveling block in the mast member, a line supported by the mast member and connected to the drawworks for pulling the block toward the head of the mast member, a sling connected at one end with the traveling block, and means for first connecting the opposite end of the sling with the gin pole to swing the mast member up to upright position and for then connecting the sling with both the floor support member and setback support member to first raise the setback support member and then swing the floor support member and upright mast member upwardly and forward toward the raised setback support member.
 5. Oil well drilling apparatus according to claim 4, in which said last-mentioned means include sheave means mounted on the top of the gin pole, means for first anchoring said opposite end of the sling to the upper side of the reclining mast member with the sling extending therefrom down around the back of said sheave means and forward to the traveling block, sheave means mounted on said floor support member, and means for later anchoring said opposite end of the sling to the upper part of the raised setback support member with the sling extending therefrom down under said last-mentioned sheave means and up to the traveling block. 